ABC News suspended the executive producer of the weekend edition of "Good
Morning America" yesterday over a pair of leaked e-mails in which he used
inflammatory language to slam President Bush and Madeleine Albright.

John Green, whose unpaid suspension will last one month, apologized to the
White House in a call to communications director Nicolle Wallace, while two ABC
executives called the former secretary of state to apologize.

"No one is sorrier than John for the embarrassment that these albeit private
e-mails caused to his colleagues and to the people who were the subjects of
those comments," said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. "John would be the
first to say this has been a real lesson to him. John is abjectly sorry for all
the comments that have come to light, and that's appropriate."

In one of the e-mails, written during the first presidential debate in 2004
and leaked to the Drudge Report, Green wrote to a colleague on his BlackBerry:
"Are you watching this? Bush makes me sick. If he uses the 'mixed messages'
line one more time, I'm going to puke."

Green, who was not made available for comment yesterday, wrote his
colleagues after that leak to say "how much I regret the embarrassment that
this story causes ABC. It was an inappropriate thing to say, and I'm deeply
sorry."

Wallace said yesterday that she "appreciated the call and the apology."

The second leaked e-mail surfaced Thursday on the New York Post's gossipy
Page Six. In that note, Green wrote that Albright should not be booked on the
show because "Albright has Jew shame."

Albright, who was raised as a Roman Catholic, acknowledged her Jewish
heritage in 1997 after it was discovered by Washington Post reporter Michael
Dobbs in the course of researching a book.

Green wrote in that note that "she hates us anyway because she says we
promised her five minutes and only gave her two . . . I do not like her." An
ABC insider said Green was reacting to a heated dispute between Albright and a
network producer.

The Albright Group, a global strategy firm founded by the former Clinton
cabinet member, took the diplomatic route. "Secretary Albright has always had
an excellent relationship with 'GMA' and with ABC and she still does," her
office said in a statement. "In fact, she looks forward to appearing on 'GMA'
on May 2 in connection with the release of her book on U.S. foreign policy and
the importance of religious tolerance."

Both e-mails were disclosed at a time when public distrust of news
organizations and their ability to be fair are at or near an all-time high.

The suspension was ordered by Kerry Marash, senior vice president for
editorial standards, and approved by ABC News President David Westin.

Green, who got his job in 2004 as the Saturday and Sunday editions of the
morning show were being launched, has worked for ABC for 12 years. He is highly
regarded by many of his colleagues, and the show is in second place on
Saturdays, trailing NBC's "Weekend Today," but is in third place on Sundays,
when "CBS Sunday Morning" is No. 1.

It is widely believed at ABC News that the e-mails were leaked by a former
employee who has a vendetta against Green.

"Everyone who works at ABC News is unhappy with the situation because it
reflects on all of us," Schneider said. But, he said, "I don't think the
e-mails tell us anything about the show John Green was putting on the air every
Saturday and Sunday, which is fair and balanced and down the middle."